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| From Untitled Album |
From 92-93, we used to get our haircut by my dad’s friend Randy. Randy was a cool guy. He was the only person I knew who had an arcade machine in his house. It was only the original Super Mario Bros. but it was still awesome. He used to cut hair at his mom’s house in her backyard
One night while we were at Randy’s getting our haircut, my brother had told me about some code that was out for street fighter 2. I didn’t believe him honestly. He was only 6 at the time anyway. What would he know about a street fighter code? I still had to let this guy win occasionally. Randy overheard us discussing this and assured me that there was indeed a street fighter code. Like my brother, he wasn’t sure what this code did either. Supposedly, it allowed you to play as the boss characters like M. Bison, Vega, Sagat, and Balrog. Street Fighter 2 was still hot on Super Nintendo around this time but still I hadn’t heard anything about this code. At this point I was too intrigued to let this go. I had to have it. Randy then mentioned that he had a few homeboys that played street fighter all the time. Randy stayed on Caldwell and Poinsettia. His homeboys were right on Temple I believe, the next street over. Since it was a Friday night my dad didn’t have a problem going over there when we were finished. Randy told us to just ask for Train when we got there.
The house was so close, we could have mobbed over there. However, Compton was no joke in 93. If you lived there in those times you know what I’m talking about. We elected to drive instead. We pulled up to a brown corner house. I don’t think my dad knew who Train was. He knew a lot of people in that area though so it wouldn’t have been surprising if he did know him. We got out and walked to the front door. My dad knocked. A light skinned dude with a Geri-curl answered the door. I could tell he didn’t know who my dad was. The light skinned guy didn’t mad dog my dad or anything, he just gave him that suspicious “Who are you loc?” kind of look. Then my dad asked if Train was there and told the guy what we were there for a street fighter code. The guy told us he didn’t remember the code because he hardly played street fighter anymore but Train would definitely know. Train had just stepped out, so the guy let us inside to wait on him. I can’t remember much about the house and what was going on. There were a few other guys in the living room. My dad knew one of them so he went to go say “what’s up?” My brother and I just sat and waited for Train to get back.
After about 15 minutes, Train finally showed up. I remember him looking similar to the guy that answered the door but with no Geri-curl, I assumed they were brothers or at least related in some way. My dad went up to Train and introduced himself, my brother and me. We gave him a “shake” and followed him to a bedroom. When walked in, I noticed a little kid playing some video games in the corner. I was hoping he was playing street fighter so I could see the code in action. The kid wasn’t playing street fighter. He was playing something I had never seen in up close in real life. He was playing NEO-GEO. I had never seen anyone who owned a REAL Neo-Geo. Back then, Neo-Geo’s ran for about $500. The games alone went for $200 each. I was mesmerized. Then I noticed all the audio equipment in the room. Huge speakers, turn tables, and milk crates full of records. As it turned out Train was MC Ren’s DJ. This just got better and better. Train was a really cool guy. He let us play around with some of his equipment. He put on a new track he just made for MC Ren. It was a nice track. We got to scratch on it a little bit. We had no idea what we were doing but it didn’t matter. It was all in fun. After we had enough of playing DJ, train gave us a bunch of MC. Ren promos, stickers, and fliers. One of the promo tapes we got was MC Ren’s “Final Frontier” The video can be found on YouTube. Pay attention to the video, you can actually see Train together with Ren. Even though we didn’t get the street fighter code, it was a very fun experience. It was also surreal because this was someone who associated with a celebrity. Final Frontier is still one of my favorite MC Ren tracks.
DJ Train was originally part of NWA and the posse. He can actually be seen on the cover of the original album. Ren and Train were childhood friends. Train worked with J.J. Fad and others on the Ruthless Records label.
Maybe about a year later, on the way to Randy’s for our haircut we noticed a bunch of people outside of Train’s house. We had just come from McDonald’s on Long Beach blvd and Caldwell. We slowed down the car to see what all the commotion was about. My dad whistled “What’s up cuzz?” to someone. This guy walks up with a grey sweater and a Seattle Mariner’s hat. I didn’t know who this guy was. i believe he was telling my dad that they had just come from Train’s funeral. Train had died in a house fire a few days before. I don’t know how the fire started and was never able to find out. Train had woken up in the middle of the night and saw the house in flames. In a very courageous act, instead of just saving himself, train risked his life and went room by room trying to get his family out of the house. He managed to get everyone out of the house but went back in to make one final check for any people. Train never came out. They said when the fire department got there; they found him in front of the TV on the floor. He later died at the hospital. I’m not sure whether he died from his wounds or smoke inhalation. Although we didn’t know Train that well, it was still sad to hear that happened. From the one time we did meet him, it seemed like he was such a cool guy. I mean he was a DJ for god sakes. How cool is that? Judging from the fact that he risked his life to save his family from that fire, he is definitely a hero in my book. “Oh, that’s right!” The guy that had come up to the car was MC Ren. My dad and he weren’t friends or anything but they may have remembered each other on that day. I also found out that my aunt and MC Ren were good friends back in the day. They used to rap together. She showed me a post-it note he gave her before he went on tour with NWA. So many things happened in that little neighborhood. You never know who knows who. I do know that it was a pleasure meeting DJ Train before he died. It’s definitely a moment in my life I take pride in. Rest in Peace Train.
